Latest / Jags A.M. / Ep. 61: Will the Jaguars Franchise Tag Josh Allen? | Jags A.M. Podcast

Transcript

Ep. 61: Will the Jaguars Franchise Tag Josh Allen? | Jags A.M. Podcast · Jags A.M.

0:19
Speaker 1: Welcome morning, Welcome to jags am on Tuesday, March fifth,
0:24
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, which means that we are six days
0:26
Speaker 1: away from the start of the legal tampering period, whatever
0:30
Speaker 1: that is intended to mean, and then just eight days
0:34
Speaker 1: from the start of the new league year. Lots of
0:36
Speaker 1: questions to address, plenty to look back on from the
0:39
Speaker 1: combine last week, and obviously plenty to talk about coming
0:43
Speaker 1: up with some big issues, including as we introduced, John Oser,
0:47
Speaker 1: senior writer at Jaguars dot Com, recently returned from Indianapolis,
0:52
Speaker 1: including John the decision today on whether or not the
0:57
Speaker 1: franchise Josh Allen wars all time single season sac leader
1:03
Speaker 1: with seventeen and a half. Today is the day that
1:05
Speaker 1: the Jaguars either have to apply the tag or work
1:07
Speaker 1: like hell to get a deal done before next week.
1:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the key is if you apply the tag,
1:12
Speaker 2: you can't take it off in retag, right, so you
1:14
Speaker 2: only do it for one guy a year. So the urgency,
1:19
Speaker 2: which is different than last year. Remember they tagged Devin
1:21
Speaker 2: Ingram and sort of let it ride. The urgency is
1:24
Speaker 2: you would think they may like to use it on
1:27
Speaker 2: Calvin Ridley. I don't know that for a fact, but
1:29
Speaker 2: that would seem like a possibility.
1:31
Speaker 1: There's been a lot of chatter about Ridley now all
1:33
Speaker 1: of a sudden, Mike Evans off the market, and other
1:35
Speaker 1: receivers appearing to be done in t Higgins going into
1:38
Speaker 1: a franchise situation.
1:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you don't really have.
1:43
Speaker 2: It's not as easy to let it ride with Josh
1:46
Speaker 2: as it was with Evan last year. I don't have
1:49
Speaker 2: a real feel for it. I've said over and over
1:51
Speaker 2: and over again. To me, it makes sense to sign
1:52
Speaker 2: Josh to a long term deal. I think he is
1:55
Speaker 2: a guy who, even when he's not performing high SAX numbers,
2:00
Speaker 2: he's always good against the run, always a good locker
2:03
Speaker 2: room guy. I think he's a safe signing. But me
2:07
Speaker 2: saying he's a safe signing doesn't necessarily mean numbers match,
2:10
Speaker 2: because when numbers get into the range that these numbers
2:12
Speaker 2: are gonna be a little difference can.
2:15
Speaker 3: Be a lot.
2:15
Speaker 1: And we're gonna talk specifically about some of the numbers
2:17
Speaker 1: and what they might mean in terms of the top
2:19
Speaker 1: five salary cap hits for edge rushers and wide receivers
2:23
Speaker 1: coming a look up a little bit later in the show.
2:26
Speaker 1: But let's go with big things. We're gonna have an
2:27
Speaker 1: A block big things, and then we're gonna have a
2:29
Speaker 1: B block big things. Today we'll start with big things
2:32
Speaker 1: from Trent Balky and we'll talk about what got done
2:35
Speaker 1: last week, which was the first step in the process
2:38
Speaker 1: of a new year.
2:41
Speaker 4: Again, it goes back to did the player turn out
2:43
Speaker 4: to be a good football player? Didn't he You're never
2:45
Speaker 4: gonna get criticized for taking a good player. If it
2:48
Speaker 4: doesn't work and the player doesn't end up reaching his
2:51
Speaker 4: level of competency or the expectation of the pick, then
2:54
Speaker 4: it's a bad pick. So it just comes down to
2:57
Speaker 4: whether you made the right decision or not.
3:00
Speaker 1: And those decisions are being made now. After a week
3:02
Speaker 1: of evaluations at the Combine, personal interviews, and medical testing,
3:07
Speaker 1: the Jaguars are further in the process John of putting
3:11
Speaker 1: their board together and figuring out who are the good players.
3:14
Speaker 1: And I think it's important to point out here and
3:16
Speaker 1: everything is focused on mock drafts in the first round,
3:20
Speaker 1: but this team needs to hit good players in every round.
3:24
Speaker 1: So this is a long, deep process that they've started.
3:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I laughed when Trent said that, because my
3:29
Speaker 2: thought is the Jaguars fans would criticize them for hitting
3:32
Speaker 2: a good pick. Well, they criticize them for Traymon Walker.
3:35
Speaker 2: Traymonwalker be really a great pick. But I'm obviously kidnap
3:39
Speaker 2: about that. Yeah, they need you know, I always hesitate
3:44
Speaker 2: say they need impact in the draft after round one
3:48
Speaker 2: because history tells me that's difficult to think that you're
3:51
Speaker 2: gonna get, you know, at some positions. Hard to do
3:56
Speaker 2: at seventeen. It sure feels like as time goes on,
4:01
Speaker 2: I start leaning. I'm leaning right now, Bryan, I start
4:04
Speaker 2: leaning to position over here. Corners starting to make a
4:09
Speaker 2: lot of sense. I'm having trouble now thinking they're going
4:12
Speaker 2: to go a different way. But I may feel different tomorrow.
4:15
Speaker 3: But uh so much is going to depend on uh.
4:21
Speaker 2: I think what they do in free agency more who
4:25
Speaker 2: they let go than who they don't. I think it's
4:28
Speaker 2: conceivable you could see some wait and see guys meaning
4:31
Speaker 2: guys they retain, and see what happens in the draft
4:34
Speaker 2: and free agency, so we'll see. It's it's a complicated
4:39
Speaker 2: thing because they're now mature with the salary cap, meaning.
4:42
Speaker 3: It's not just add on, it's managing.
4:45
Speaker 1: And that's why you've got to make sure that you
4:47
Speaker 1: find players impacts too strong of a word for a
4:49
Speaker 1: guy that you may found find in the fourth round.
4:52
Speaker 1: But we're talking this year about you know, tight end
4:53
Speaker 1: Breton Strange, right back, Tanks Bigsby. You know, these are
4:56
Speaker 1: guys that need to make that next step. When you
5:00
Speaker 1: we've got a quarterback who's gonna eat up twelve, thirteen,
5:02
Speaker 1: fourteen percent of your cap and a pass rusher who's
5:04
Speaker 1: gonna take a sizeable bite, maybe a wide receiver as well.
5:07
Speaker 1: You gotta put these jars on the shelf.
5:08
Speaker 2: Oh, you gotta have guys who are good for the
5:11
Speaker 2: long term. I'm saying maybe first year draft and develop,
5:14
Speaker 2: but over time, your first contract players need to be
5:19
Speaker 2: making up. Now, if you're a mature cap with a
5:24
Speaker 2: elite quarterback, those first contract players have to be all
5:28
Speaker 2: but five or six of year guys.
5:30
Speaker 1: All right On to big thing too. Next week, which
5:32
Speaker 1: is obviously the start of the new league year and
5:34
Speaker 1: free agency and the aforementioned decisions on both Josh Allen
5:40
Speaker 1: and Calvin Ridley, And it was one of the first
5:43
Speaker 1: questions that the general manager was asked last week in Indianapolis.
5:47
Speaker 4: There's a lot of players that have hit free agency
5:50
Speaker 4: there's another bunch of young guys that were working on
5:53
Speaker 4: potential extensions for so we've got a lot of balls
5:56
Speaker 4: in the air right now and we're just gonna try
5:58
Speaker 4: to play them one by one.
6:03
Speaker 1: Listen, everything they need to do with free agency, and
6:06
Speaker 1: there are a number of players, will be predicated on
6:08
Speaker 1: what they get done with Josh and with Calvin.
6:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would be surprised. I would be surprised if
6:18
Speaker 2: they don't sign at least one free agent who people
6:22
Speaker 2: are Oh, that's their guy this year, that kind of
6:25
Speaker 2: level guy. And I think that's why that makes the
6:29
Speaker 2: Ridley decision a little trickier. Meaning everybody's talking about, well,
6:33
Speaker 2: if you let Calvin walk, he'll he'll get you a
6:37
Speaker 2: third round comp next year. Well not if you sign
6:40
Speaker 2: a big time free agent, because then that balances out
6:44
Speaker 2: and you're not guaranteed a comp just because you lose
6:47
Speaker 2: one free agent. If you sign another that balances out
6:51
Speaker 2: in the formula, then you don't get a comp. So
6:53
Speaker 2: I'm not sure the comp pick deal is much of
6:56
Speaker 2: a thing now. If you lose both Josh and Calvin,
6:59
Speaker 2: then you probably get to comp thirds next year, but
7:03
Speaker 2: you've also lost joshon callig.
7:04
Speaker 1: How does that help you with help at all?
7:07
Speaker 2: Sometimes people get in my opinion, I'm not a big
7:10
Speaker 2: comp pick. Let's count them guy, because you don't want
7:13
Speaker 2: to gain comp picks at the loss of guys you need.
7:16
Speaker 1: All right, final big thing in our first segment here
7:19
Speaker 1: this morning, focusing on Trent Balky and his commentary from
7:22
Speaker 1: last week in Indianapolis, and that is every single day
7:25
Speaker 1: they are working on the salary cap. Jaguars have a
7:29
Speaker 1: decent salary cap position. Even though they're right in the
7:33
Speaker 1: middle of the pack as opposed to being near the
7:35
Speaker 1: top of the heap as they've been in recent years.
7:37
Speaker 1: The general manager knows they've got something to work with.
7:41
Speaker 4: We're right in the middle to upper tier of the
7:44
Speaker 4: league in term of camp space available, and we've got
7:47
Speaker 4: moves that we can do to create more camp space.
7:50
Speaker 4: So we like the position we're in, we like the
7:52
Speaker 4: flexibility that we have, and again we're not going to
7:55
Speaker 4: disclose any of our thoughts right here, but we feel
7:59
Speaker 4: good about where now.
8:01
Speaker 3: I remember Brian, the cap.
8:04
Speaker 2: If they signed Josh and Ridley, that doesn't necessarily cripple
8:08
Speaker 2: them for this year. That pushes out into the future.
8:12
Speaker 2: What do you know, I sometimes feel sorry for gms
8:16
Speaker 2: because they're at the podium and they're talking about the
8:19
Speaker 2: cap and nobody looks at the cap the way gms do,
8:24
Speaker 2: meaning people are looking at the Caps saying, well, you
8:26
Speaker 2: all this cap space.
8:28
Speaker 1: In a one year window.
8:29
Speaker 2: They've got a plan to make sure that you're not
8:32
Speaker 2: mortgaged and broke in two years. And that was the
8:35
Speaker 2: big disconnect I think with fans last year in the offseason,
8:38
Speaker 2: Trent from the time that he signed that twenty two
8:42
Speaker 2: class said this is not going to be a big
8:44
Speaker 2: time year next year because we've got to get it
8:46
Speaker 2: right and have flexibility.
8:47
Speaker 3: In twenty four it.
8:48
Speaker 2: Played out like he said it was going to play out,
8:51
Speaker 2: but nobody listened. So whether he was right or wrong
8:54
Speaker 2: about that, there was never going to be a big
8:56
Speaker 2: spending So he's still got to look even with the
8:58
Speaker 2: Josh Allen, Calvin Ridley, it'll give him short term space,
9:01
Speaker 2: but what's he gonna do with that long term?
9:03
Speaker 3: And long term means getting room for Trevor Loawns. That's it, right.
9:05
Speaker 1: I mean, as much as we talk about the pass
9:07
Speaker 1: rusher and the wide receiver, you know the looming cloud
9:10
Speaker 1: there is, you know how you're gonna get this one
9:12
Speaker 1: done with Trevor Lawrence and when are you going to
9:14
Speaker 1: get it done? But theoretically, as you said, a deal,
9:18
Speaker 1: a long term deal, not the cap or sorry, not
9:20
Speaker 1: the tag, but a long term deal for Josh Allen
9:23
Speaker 1: could really bring his number down. Same thing with Calvin Ridley.
9:26
Speaker 3: Walloons in three years. Absolutely.
9:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, So you got to understand that it's kind of
9:29
Speaker 1: like a credit card and you're gonna have to pay
9:31
Speaker 1: the balance at some point in time, and you want
9:33
Speaker 1: to make sure that you have enough space to be
9:35
Speaker 1: able to pay that balance off. With a quarterback coming up,
9:38
Speaker 1: and of course news yesterday from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN
9:41
Speaker 1: that the Jaguars have informed defensive tackle fully fought to
9:45
Speaker 1: Kasi that they will move on from his services. That
9:47
Speaker 1: will provide a little bit of salary cap relief for
9:49
Speaker 1: them as well. In the sea block of this show
9:52
Speaker 1: coming up in about fifteen minutes, we will spend a
9:54
Speaker 1: good bit of time looking at the salary cap for
9:56
Speaker 1: the Jaguars, where they're at, where they could possibly be going,
10:00
Speaker 1: gets started on a new league year. Mid week next
10:05
Speaker 1: week we'll be back. More of Jags Am to follow
10:08
Speaker 1: from the Midller Electric Center in Jacksonville. Right after this, well,
10:13
Speaker 1: Magellan invites you to help them move the freight. They're
10:16
Speaker 1: voted the coolest office space in Jacksonville, and you can
10:19
Speaker 1: join their team by applying online at Magellanlogistics dot com.
10:24
Speaker 1: Move the phrase. All right, Brian John, back with you
10:29
Speaker 1: here on a Tuesday for Jags am combine behind us,
10:33
Speaker 1: new league year in front of us. But before we
10:35
Speaker 1: get to that, let's hear from the head coach. And
10:38
Speaker 1: big thing one from Doug's perspective, was right out of
10:41
Speaker 1: the gate his new staff, and he went to great
10:44
Speaker 1: lengths to describe the qualities of the men that he
10:47
Speaker 1: was looking for, whether that was championship credentials or the
10:51
Speaker 1: players that they had worked with. He had a very
10:53
Speaker 1: specific idea in mind of the staff he wanted to
10:56
Speaker 1: put together on the defensive side of the ball.
10:59
Speaker 5: Group of men that that number one, you know, are
11:03
Speaker 5: gonna get gonna get the most out of our players. Obviously,
11:07
Speaker 5: you know, scheme might change just a little bit, but
11:10
Speaker 5: I think the look of it's gonna change probably the most.
11:12
Speaker 5: You know what you see, but but it's all for
11:14
Speaker 5: the for the better. And again I'm excited for the future,
11:17
Speaker 5: excited to work with these guys you know coming up
11:19
Speaker 5: this offseason.
11:21
Speaker 1: John He went as far as talking about the new
11:23
Speaker 1: defensive line coach having worked with Miles Garrett and that
11:26
Speaker 1: being an attractive quality, especially with Josh Allen and Trey
11:29
Speaker 1: Von Walker. He went in depth on each one of
11:32
Speaker 1: these guys and why he made the choice.
11:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, he talked mostly about, Uh, they're good teachers or
11:39
Speaker 2: they're you know, very good teachers. A huge reason he
11:43
Speaker 2: got them. They fit well with Ryan Nielsen, which is important.
11:47
Speaker 2: I think, Uh, defensive backs code christ Shard Christmas Schard
11:52
Speaker 2: is probably the name of the bunch that most NFL
11:57
Speaker 2: types sort of attached to his time. And see he's
12:00
Speaker 2: got a long history of coaching defensive backs the way
12:04
Speaker 2: that Ryan Nielsen is going to want. He's important because
12:07
Speaker 2: Ryan Nielsen not saying Ryan Nielsen can't coach every part
12:10
Speaker 2: of the defense, but his history is defensive line. So
12:14
Speaker 2: having a solid secondary coach gives you some balance there,
12:18
Speaker 2: somebody that he can lean on.
12:20
Speaker 3: It's going to be more.
12:24
Speaker 2: Press coverage with some help over the top, with variations
12:29
Speaker 2: on that as you go forward. We'll see, I don't
12:33
Speaker 2: get two in in the off season to how defense
12:37
Speaker 2: is going to look with a first year coordinator, because
12:40
Speaker 2: it's got to get into training camp and he's got
12:42
Speaker 2: to see how these guys are going to play within it.
12:44
Speaker 2: But that's what he historically wants to do. And all
12:48
Speaker 2: reports are a good guy, good coach can adapt to
12:50
Speaker 2: his personnel and can teach, and that's what you want.
12:53
Speaker 3: All right.
12:53
Speaker 1: Doug was asked about his quarterback and you recall at
12:56
Speaker 1: the end of the season there were questions, There were
12:58
Speaker 1: people that had questions Trevor Lawrence's progression from twenty twenty
13:02
Speaker 1: two through twenty twenty three. Where was he, would they
13:05
Speaker 1: pay him, what did they need to see from him?
13:07
Speaker 1: All those questions, and then this, do you have the
13:09
Speaker 1: right quarterback.
13:15
Speaker 5: Still put more of an impact to his voice in
13:17
Speaker 5: our offense, you know, because he's the one out there
13:19
Speaker 5: executing and calling to play. So you know, I want
13:22
Speaker 5: him to speak up and really take ownership in that
13:25
Speaker 5: with us. And just you know, the situational part of
13:30
Speaker 5: football too, just understanding game situations, you know, managing the
13:34
Speaker 5: game in a certain way at certain times throughout the
13:36
Speaker 5: course of the game. And you know, these are all
13:38
Speaker 5: areas that we can continue as a staff to assist
13:41
Speaker 5: him and help him.
13:43
Speaker 1: Johnny ruffinitive when asked about do you have the right guy? Ye,
13:47
Speaker 1: he didn't even hesitate for a second, but then he
13:50
Speaker 1: took the time to go into that list that you
13:52
Speaker 1: just heard of things that he needed to see from
13:54
Speaker 1: his quarterback heading into his fourth NFL season.
13:57
Speaker 3: He said multiple times has the right guy.
14:00
Speaker 2: They believe in Trevor Lawrence and the combine has a
14:04
Speaker 2: couple of different purposes, many on the field, but for
14:09
Speaker 2: teams and head coaches, it's sort of to reset the
14:12
Speaker 2: tone of the organization for people. He came out and
14:15
Speaker 2: he said, we're all in with this guy, and then
14:19
Speaker 2: he sort of did a that being said he needs
14:22
Speaker 2: to improve, He needs to improve game situations, he needs
14:26
Speaker 2: to improve turnovers.
14:28
Speaker 3: All the potential is there.
14:29
Speaker 2: So it really I don't think it changed the narrative
14:32
Speaker 2: that much on Trevor. It reshaped how they feel about
14:36
Speaker 2: and reconfirmed it. I got a tone of he's the
14:40
Speaker 2: guy and we're gonna wind up paying him because we
14:43
Speaker 2: have to and we want to. But in the have
14:46
Speaker 2: to want to, there's also an edge of he has
14:50
Speaker 2: to be better to fulfill that faith and there's no
14:54
Speaker 2: question in that and now it's on him and the
14:56
Speaker 2: coaches to get him there.
14:57
Speaker 1: Three or four times she used the phrase we have
14:59
Speaker 1: to work with him yep, right, meaning he and his
15:01
Speaker 1: staff have to do their part to get him up.
15:03
Speaker 1: And that was a continuing theme onto the offensive line. Look,
15:06
Speaker 1: it's no surprise and to anybody that watched this team
15:09
Speaker 1: last year, the offensive line did not have a good season.
15:12
Speaker 1: Doug rightly so pointed out that the left side was
15:15
Speaker 1: a constant mixed mixing and matching of players who were
15:19
Speaker 1: healthy or who were available to him, and that created
15:22
Speaker 1: some issues and they needed more consistency. But he says,
15:25
Speaker 1: this group has to be better. And so there's this
15:27
Speaker 1: coaching staff.
15:29
Speaker 5: Put our players in position to be successful, give them
15:32
Speaker 5: an opportunity, and that falls on us as coaches through
15:34
Speaker 5: through game planning and scheming and not having too much,
15:38
Speaker 5: just have the right amount of plays to execute and
15:41
Speaker 5: then and then in turn that falls back onto the player.
15:44
Speaker 5: Right the player has to go out and play and
15:46
Speaker 5: use his God given ability to go execute the play.
15:52
Speaker 1: We'll see what this offensive line looks like. Obviously it's
15:54
Speaker 1: a great draft for offensive lineman. I think there are
15:57
Speaker 1: nine offensive tackles who will have first round or near
16:00
Speaker 1: first round grades. There's some centers, there's some other players
16:04
Speaker 1: of ability in the offensive group. Plus you've got Brandon
16:08
Speaker 1: Sheriff who's got a big cap number. We're going to
16:09
Speaker 1: talk about that coming up. Cam Robinson that's got a
16:12
Speaker 1: big cap number. You want to get Ezra Cleveland back.
16:15
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of issues the Jaguars have
16:17
Speaker 1: to work through to get to the offensive line that
16:19
Speaker 1: they hope will be better next year.
16:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's so hard people.
16:23
Speaker 2: I have people, you know, approach me asking me the
16:27
Speaker 2: offensive line, and the ozone asked me about the offensive line,
16:30
Speaker 2: and it's so difficult to give people answers they want
16:34
Speaker 2: because there are so many ways this could play out.
16:37
Speaker 2: I think Cam Robinson's back after what Tran Balky said
16:40
Speaker 2: last week and half the way Doug spoke. If he's back,
16:43
Speaker 2: then you've got the two guys on the end you
16:46
Speaker 2: think are pretty solidified. If he's not, all of a sudden,
16:48
Speaker 2: you're moving Anton Harrison probably to left. You're probably putting
16:52
Speaker 2: Walker a little over here. So that's all of a sudden,
16:53
Speaker 2: three different possibilities. Sheriff, I sort of think he's probably
16:59
Speaker 2: gone because the cap, But the CAP's bigger now and
17:03
Speaker 2: he's a veteran.
17:05
Speaker 3: Do you let him go before you know what you
17:07
Speaker 3: got to replace? I don't know.
17:10
Speaker 2: Cooper Hodges comes in there, Luke Fortner. So the way
17:14
Speaker 2: I phrase that answer, Brian is indicative. I don't know
17:18
Speaker 2: where to go with it because there's so many possibilities.
17:21
Speaker 2: I think they're in a situation too, where they're looking
17:23
Speaker 2: at Okay, we've got guys who have started so were Okay,
17:27
Speaker 2: how do we get better in free agency? Okay, we
17:30
Speaker 2: got this guy, Now we can get better here in
17:31
Speaker 2: the draft. Okay, we got so. I think they may
17:33
Speaker 2: retain some guys before finding things to compete with or
17:39
Speaker 2: improve on spots because they're in a weird spot with
17:42
Speaker 2: the offensive line.
17:43
Speaker 1: Well, it's either at least ap pierced this moment. You're
17:45
Speaker 1: either going to radically change the offensive line right by
17:48
Speaker 1: letting a couple of those high dollar guys go, or
17:51
Speaker 1: you're going to stand pat which means that you really
17:53
Speaker 1: have to coach. You really have to work to get
17:56
Speaker 1: this group that didn't play well last year to play
17:58
Speaker 1: it a much higher standard.
18:00
Speaker 3: We'll see what they and the argument would be they
18:02
Speaker 3: coached last year. Yeah, yeah, this one.
18:06
Speaker 2: I mean does that as advocate, if you don't make
18:09
Speaker 2: a change somewhere, you do wonder where it gets better.
18:14
Speaker 3: That is what we fink. I know.
18:17
Speaker 1: Receivers and corners are always a really hot topic when
18:20
Speaker 1: you get into the first round of the draft, and
18:22
Speaker 1: especially this year because there are some really good ones.
18:24
Speaker 1: But if you don't get big guys on both sides
18:29
Speaker 1: of the line, it's tough to compete week in and
18:31
Speaker 1: week out in this league. So we'll see where they
18:32
Speaker 1: put their evaluation when we come back. We'll take a
18:35
Speaker 1: look at the salary cap from the Jaguars top five
18:37
Speaker 1: hits all the way to the top five wide receivers
18:39
Speaker 1: in the league in terms of their salary structure. Obviously
18:42
Speaker 1: that's changed with Mike Evans. Now we'll go through it.
18:44
Speaker 1: We return to Jad's a. So there's room this year,
18:50
Speaker 1: there's more room next year, but you have to use
18:52
Speaker 1: it wisely, right, it's not monopoly money. At some point
18:55
Speaker 1: you got to pay out real cash and figure ou
18:57
Speaker 1: way how to make all those pieces fit. Let's take
19:00
Speaker 1: a look at the Jags top five salary cap hits
19:03
Speaker 1: as of today, and you can see right there that
19:08
Speaker 1: you have four guys who are making more than twenty
19:12
Speaker 1: one million dollars. That number is going to go up
19:14
Speaker 1: because you figure that the salary cap hit for Josh Allen,
19:18
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence, Calvin Ridley, if you if you get him back,
19:23
Speaker 1: they're all going to be up in that North territory
19:26
Speaker 1: as it is.
19:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know if if the first year they'll
19:30
Speaker 2: be over twenty. I think you can keep them under
19:33
Speaker 2: again some of this conversation. It depends on how they
19:37
Speaker 2: want to structure it. The Mahomes contract, which was four
19:41
Speaker 2: or five years ago.
19:43
Speaker 3: His first number was really low.
19:44
Speaker 2: I think it was below ten, right, well ballooned after that,
19:47
Speaker 2: you know, it goes up to forty or fifty. So
19:50
Speaker 2: it philosophically depends on them looking at the cap and saying, well,
19:54
Speaker 2: we would rather have this hit in this year. Have it.
19:57
Speaker 3: But at some point those top three.
20:01
Speaker 2: Cap hits, top four cap hits, we're gonna laugh in
20:05
Speaker 2: two years and think, boy, those were the days.
20:07
Speaker 3: Oh so, but.
20:11
Speaker 2: Looking at this, there is an X factor here that
20:15
Speaker 2: it's hard to get into in a show like this.
20:19
Speaker 2: Those are the cap hits for now, do you take
20:21
Speaker 2: some of that money for some of those guys extend
20:23
Speaker 2: to make voidable.
20:24
Speaker 1: Well, there's not as much No, there's not as much
20:26
Speaker 1: space in there as you think. So let's go to
20:28
Speaker 1: the top five cap savings. Right, cap savings are when
20:32
Speaker 1: you released a player, this is what you gained. So
20:37
Speaker 1: you saw that Cam Robinson's cap figure on the last
20:40
Speaker 1: page was twenty one million, one hundred and sixty eight
20:42
Speaker 1: three hundred and one. He saves you sixteen million dollars. Right,
20:48
Speaker 1: He's got a five million dollar payment this year. That
20:51
Speaker 1: is what his salary is. That is savings. Darius Williams
20:57
Speaker 1: is an eleven million dollars saving. And then two really
21:00
Speaker 1: difficult decisions are Sheriff and Foyer Lucan because both of
21:05
Speaker 1: those guys are over seven million dollars in savings. Now
21:08
Speaker 1: that that's not their number isn't necessarily krippling, right, but
21:13
Speaker 1: they're older guys. You gotta look at it. Brag Shawn
21:17
Speaker 1: Jenkins will save you five million dollars. We saw yesterday,
21:20
Speaker 1: just as as as a reference to this that the Jaguars,
21:24
Speaker 1: according to Jeremy Fowler from the ESPN, we're gonna move
21:27
Speaker 1: on from fully font Coosti, right, they're gonna save about
21:31
Speaker 1: three and a half million dollars on fully Fonticosti. So
21:36
Speaker 1: when you look at the moves, it's a tough move
21:39
Speaker 1: to make right because it's a guy that you paid.
21:42
Speaker 1: But they've got other moves they can make. There's not
21:44
Speaker 1: a lot of restructuring room in there because they did
21:47
Speaker 1: that last.
21:47
Speaker 3: Year christ and I think you could. I think he's
21:50
Speaker 3: a little bit there.
21:51
Speaker 1: He's got twenty one million dollars in what's called dead money.
21:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, not that he was not gonna be backing Christian
21:57
Speaker 2: kirk back. I'm just saying that's not even consider he
22:00
Speaker 2: has played his way into being enough of a core
22:02
Speaker 2: guy you can easily see him still being here three
22:06
Speaker 2: four years down the road, which is rare for a
22:07
Speaker 2: second contract guy, but he's sort of become that long
22:11
Speaker 2: term guy.
22:15
Speaker 3: Photocosti.
22:16
Speaker 2: First of all, I don't know as much of a
22:18
Speaker 2: cap issue as it was in two years he had
22:21
Speaker 2: not played it right, So I don't know that's as
22:26
Speaker 2: much cap as it is. Hey, it's just time to
22:29
Speaker 2: move on. Not every free agent works out the way
22:31
Speaker 2: you hope the others come down to.
22:35
Speaker 3: I do think.
22:35
Speaker 2: The the increase in the salary cap it doesn't help
22:43
Speaker 2: that much long term because all teams get it, so
22:47
Speaker 2: like when you're going to try to resign Trevor Lawrence
22:50
Speaker 2: or even Calvin. But it does help you manage what's
22:53
Speaker 2: already on your books. And I do think it helps
22:56
Speaker 2: in the sense of because it's higher, you could maybe
22:59
Speaker 2: get a couple of guys through the start of the
23:01
Speaker 2: new league year and then make decisions on them later
23:05
Speaker 2: to help you long term, rather than having to slash
23:07
Speaker 2: to get to the cap right now, see the difference there,
23:11
Speaker 2: I do.
23:11
Speaker 1: Can we go back to the most recent slide the
23:14
Speaker 1: top five cap savings? What's interesting to note and again
23:16
Speaker 1: I was using the spot track service right, which is
23:18
Speaker 1: available to anybody. It's a subscription service. So these are estimates.
23:22
Speaker 1: That's where your cap savings is. Those are the only
23:25
Speaker 1: five players on your roster where there are significant cap
23:30
Speaker 1: saving right now. That so the other decision that you
23:33
Speaker 1: can make, right, the other decisions that you can make
23:35
Speaker 1: is all right?
23:36
Speaker 3: So do we redo?
23:38
Speaker 1: In other words, do we add years to cam Robinson's
23:40
Speaker 1: deal to bring that number down? Is the general manager
23:43
Speaker 1: has committed to him, as it sounded like when he spoke,
23:45
Speaker 1: and can we lessen that number? Right? Change the contract up.
23:50
Speaker 1: Darius Williams, this is the last year of his deal.
23:52
Speaker 1: Do you want him enough to add years on to
23:56
Speaker 1: the deal and maybe bring that number down to four
23:59
Speaker 1: or five million dollars this year you're gonna have to
24:01
Speaker 1: add two years on it to make that number work.
24:03
Speaker 1: Same thing with Geriff and Lucon, guys who are getting
24:06
Speaker 1: up there a.
24:07
Speaker 3: Bit of age.
24:08
Speaker 1: Do you really want to extend to get the savings.
24:10
Speaker 2: I'd be surprised if there's any extensions like that outside
24:14
Speaker 2: of CAM. I cannot see Darius Williams being extended in
24:18
Speaker 2: the way you're talking about, even.
24:21
Speaker 1: Though he's coming off a year where he was at
24:22
Speaker 1: the top of the AFC.
24:24
Speaker 3: I don't think.
24:26
Speaker 2: At age with that corner, like he's not old football terms.
24:31
Speaker 2: I don't know that you commit to him long term. Sheriff,
24:38
Speaker 2: I don't really think you would extend the commitment there
24:41
Speaker 2: because it does seem like injuries are starting to slow that.
24:47
Speaker 2: I could be dead wrong on that because he's a
24:49
Speaker 2: good player that they love in the locker room, so
24:51
Speaker 2: he may have a different element to it. Ray Shawn,
24:54
Speaker 2: I love I don't think he's here next year because
24:57
Speaker 2: I think ideally you want when you signed these guys
25:01
Speaker 2: in twenty one and twenty two. You want to have
25:05
Speaker 2: drafted well enough to replace some of these guys. I
25:08
Speaker 2: think they did with Antonio Johnson, so I think that
25:11
Speaker 2: becomes the ideal. Hey sign you for three which ray
25:14
Speaker 2: Sean put in three years here for second contract free agents.
25:17
Speaker 3: That's about what you want.
25:19
Speaker 1: Well, and he gave you two of the biggest defensive
25:21
Speaker 1: players in franchise.
25:22
Speaker 2: It's a successful signing. But in this business second contract
25:26
Speaker 2: free agents I don't know the number, but they often
25:31
Speaker 2: do not play out the entire contract by design.
25:34
Speaker 1: And by the way, the Jaymors have gotten a little
25:36
Speaker 1: bit more from their free agents. Robert Van Harris was
25:38
Speaker 1: part of that class as well.
25:40
Speaker 2: They've done very well signed a free agents. My point
25:42
Speaker 2: with this topic is a lot of times when you
25:46
Speaker 2: cut guys at this point, he would say, oh, you
25:50
Speaker 2: mismanage the cap.
25:51
Speaker 3: You're having to cut guys. If ray Sean is.
25:53
Speaker 2: Released, for example, that's not really mismanaging the cap. Right,
25:56
Speaker 2: they knew when they signed him probably a two or
25:59
Speaker 2: three year contract. The fact that he played three and
26:01
Speaker 2: gave you two big plays, that may say it successful,
26:05
Speaker 2: even though you have to eat some dead money.
26:07
Speaker 3: At the end.
26:08
Speaker 2: That process is how the league works right now. It's
26:11
Speaker 2: not that's sort of the standard operating procedure. It's not mismanaging.
26:16
Speaker 2: The mismanaging took place twenty five years ago.
26:18
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, no, that's absolutely true.
26:20
Speaker 3: We live it.
26:22
Speaker 1: Numbers can get all, they can all start to run together.
26:25
Speaker 1: But the bottom line is the Jaguars have some decisions
26:28
Speaker 1: that they can make. They're not all easy decisions, right,
26:31
Speaker 1: Cam Robinson, Foya Luacon, These are not easy moves by
26:35
Speaker 1: any stretch of the imagination. But if the Jaguars put
26:37
Speaker 1: a plan together, they can carve out enough cap room
26:39
Speaker 1: to do what they want to do. And that is
26:41
Speaker 1: what Trent Bulky has been saying all along. Two more
26:43
Speaker 1: things we want to talk about real quick. First of all,
26:46
Speaker 1: Josh Allen's deal will find out today. Today is the
26:48
Speaker 1: deadline for the Jaguars to give him the franchise tag,
26:52
Speaker 1: and if not, they've got to get a deal done
26:55
Speaker 1: with him before the start of the new league year,
26:57
Speaker 1: when he would become a free agent. Here are the
26:59
Speaker 1: top five edge rushers in terms of salary as of today,
27:05
Speaker 1: and you see right there. I mean, look, Nick Bosa
27:07
Speaker 1: clearing way is the highest pay guy, but you're looking
27:11
Speaker 1: to get an average in there somewhere around twenty six
27:14
Speaker 1: twenty seven million. If you're Josh Allen, if you just
27:16
Speaker 1: want to be in the top five, if you want
27:20
Speaker 1: to be about the top pay guy, you got to
27:23
Speaker 1: get to thirty five.
27:24
Speaker 3: Yeah.
27:24
Speaker 2: Boy, I just think that if both sides want to
27:29
Speaker 2: get it done, they'll get it done. And I do
27:33
Speaker 2: think the projected cap going up helps this situation. And
27:39
Speaker 2: as soon as I say that it doesn't, it doesn't
27:41
Speaker 2: because both sides sort of know it and they want
27:43
Speaker 2: to push those numbers up to every want to keep
27:45
Speaker 2: it down. I've got to think Josh gets done. And
27:48
Speaker 2: maybe that's just sort of because I want to see
27:50
Speaker 2: it getting and somewhere.
27:51
Speaker 1: There in that Joey Bosa range, perhaps about twenty seven million.
27:53
Speaker 1: I mean, it's tough to make the case that you
27:56
Speaker 1: deserve what Nick Bosa and TJ wants. Well, yeah, because
27:59
Speaker 1: both of those.
28:00
Speaker 3: Leaders, and that's what Trent BALKI, that's what I say.
28:05
Speaker 2: If I'm Trent Balky, if I'm Josh Allen's people, I say, well, maybe,
28:10
Speaker 2: but we all know that this top number at every
28:14
Speaker 2: position goes up every year in three years with the
28:18
Speaker 2: cap going up, if you pay Josh thirty in three years,
28:22
Speaker 2: that's gonna.
28:22
Speaker 3: Be a bargain. That's gonna be their side of it.
28:24
Speaker 2: Sure, And that's why these things aren't easy because everybody's
28:28
Speaker 2: always trying to adjust for not only inflation, which you
28:31
Speaker 2: know that's that's one, but salary inflation and cap inflation.
28:35
Speaker 2: So you're almost guessing it's a little bit akin to
28:40
Speaker 2: the to the Christian Kirk conversation three years ago. Remember
28:43
Speaker 2: when Christian Kirk was, oh my goodness, how could you
28:45
Speaker 2: pay Christian?
28:46
Speaker 3: But now he's a bargain. So from Josh's.
28:50
Speaker 2: Team's point of view, they're looking at that and saying, well,
28:53
Speaker 2: that's how this thing works. From the team's point of view,
28:56
Speaker 2: they're saying, well, you know, you're really good, but you're
28:58
Speaker 2: not quite Nick Bosa, right, I mean everybody gets that,
29:01
Speaker 2: So that's where the conflict.
29:03
Speaker 3: Is, all right.
29:03
Speaker 1: And a quick look at the top five numbers for
29:06
Speaker 1: wide receivers, which is obviously changed in the last thirty
29:09
Speaker 1: six hours because now you've got Mike Evans from Tampa,
29:12
Speaker 1: who would slote in there between aj Brown and Cooper
29:15
Speaker 1: Cup at about twenty six million dollars a year. But
29:17
Speaker 1: if you're gonna pay Calvin Ridley, and if there's a
29:19
Speaker 1: market out there for him, he's gonna be looking to
29:22
Speaker 1: jump somewhere into this range. You would imagine.
29:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, and again for the same reason.
29:28
Speaker 2: Anybody who's read me or listened to me, I want
29:31
Speaker 2: I think Calvin really should be back on the team
29:33
Speaker 2: next year. Whatever he quote wasn't he gave you elements
29:38
Speaker 2: that are important. Again, I would have a tough time
29:43
Speaker 2: if these numbers didn't didn't sort of rise fast. I
29:48
Speaker 2: don't know that I'd put Calvin in that bunch because
29:51
Speaker 2: he's probably just a touch below that. But if this
29:57
Speaker 2: is going to keep escalating, which it is, then that's
30:01
Speaker 2: where the argument becomes, well, look, you're paying him for
30:03
Speaker 2: what you think he's going to be and what the
30:04
Speaker 2: market's going to be. Again, that's what makes the If
30:09
Speaker 2: we weren't sitting here sort of crunching on this conversation,
30:12
Speaker 2: these deals would already be done, right. This is the
30:15
Speaker 2: conflict that makes these deals tough to get well.
30:18
Speaker 1: And even if he comes in underneath you know DK
30:21
Speaker 1: metcalf which was twenty four million, five hundred, you're you're
30:24
Speaker 1: bumping up against that to get something with Calvin.
30:26
Speaker 3: No.
30:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, well I think you're in the Christian range, as
30:31
Speaker 2: Christian was twenty three.
30:33
Speaker 1: No, Christians range is twenty four six, nine thirty.
30:37
Speaker 3: So that's exactly. That's probably the ballpark. I want to
30:39
Speaker 3: play that ballpark, right, Yeah, that's a nice ballpark.
30:43
Speaker 1: I'd play in a fraction of it. Yeah, it's all
30:45
Speaker 1: it takes. All right, So the cap conversation there you
30:47
Speaker 1: go food for thought as you move forward towards the
30:50
Speaker 1: start of the legal tampering period, we'll talk about that
30:52
Speaker 1: when we come back on JAG's eighty. All right, back
31:01
Speaker 1: to wrap up drags AM on a Tuesday, legal tampering period,
31:06
Speaker 1: that's what it's called. It opens on Monday. That is
31:09
Speaker 1: a negotiation window, and the last couple of years it's
31:13
Speaker 1: been useful to see what teams were doing almost right
31:17
Speaker 1: out of the gate.
31:17
Speaker 2: Well it's free agency. It's called I mean, it's legal tampering.
31:21
Speaker 2: But it has become a thing where by three or
31:27
Speaker 2: four hours into that, the free agency landscape is I
31:33
Speaker 2: don't put a percentage on it, but it's there, Like
31:36
Speaker 2: you can see how it's playing out. A lot of
31:39
Speaker 2: the big names are gone, so The reality is it
31:44
Speaker 2: doesn't always work like this, But usually if long term
31:48
Speaker 2: deals with teams aren't done by the time tampering starts,
31:51
Speaker 2: it's usually over.
31:53
Speaker 3: Now.
31:54
Speaker 2: That's not in always there are any situations, maybe they
31:57
Speaker 2: tell Calvin, we really want you, got to get you
32:00
Speaker 2: through the start of the new league year because.
32:02
Speaker 3: Of that the clause in the second or third round pick.
32:06
Speaker 2: But historically, anytime you hear a GM say well, we're
32:13
Speaker 2: gonna let him test the market, well you shake the
32:15
Speaker 2: guy's hand and say, well, thank you, very good luck.
32:17
Speaker 2: You know, I've really enjoyed your time here. So we'll see.
32:23
Speaker 2: And I sailed that with a caveat of every free
32:27
Speaker 2: agency period sort of takes its own life, so you
32:33
Speaker 2: never know. If it's always possible that what I just
32:39
Speaker 2: said doesn't come to fruition, that's just the history of it.
32:42
Speaker 2: And we may be talking about a different trend next year,
32:44
Speaker 2: because trends in this league can change fast.
32:47
Speaker 1: That'll do it for jags am on Tuesday. We'll be
32:50
Speaker 1: back next week of Belee Kai. We'll be back with us,
32:52
Speaker 1: and we'll be right in the middle between the start
32:55
Speaker 1: of the legal tampering period and the start of the
32:58
Speaker 1: new League years, so we'll have plenty of talking about
33:00
Speaker 1: next Tuesday here on jags Am. Have a great week, hm,
33:13
Speaker 1: hm